SESSION 4 CRIMINAL LAW I SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

(FROM AUGUST 29, 2020)

MODES INCURRING OF CRIMINAL LIABILITY

1. IMMEDIATE CAUSE(ART. 3)

ARTICLE 3. Definition. — Acts and omissions punishable by law are felonies (delitos).

Felonies are committed not only by means of deceit (dolo) but also by means of fault
(culpa).

There is deceit when the act is performed with deliberate intent; and there is fault when
the wrongful act results from imprudence, negligence, lack of foresight, or lack of skill.

2. PROXIMATE (ART. 4 (A))

Criminal liability shall be incurred (1) By any person committing a felony (delito)
although the wrongful act done be different from that which he intended.

A person who intended and performed a felonious act (FIP), although change
intervened (∆), resulting act is different from what is intended (F®) = CRIMINAL
LIABILITY

3. IMPOSSIBLE (ART. 4 (B))

Felony against persons/property + means deployed (inherently impossible,

inadequate, ineffective) + done with evil intent and no knowledge of impossibility
+ must not be another violation of any RPC provision/be an attempted or
frustrated felony = CRIMINAL LIABILITY

Elements:

1. Committed against persons or property - Impossible crime is applicable in

felonies mentioned in title 7 and 10 of Book 2 of RPC

2. Art 4 (B) Criminal liability shall be incurred by any person performing an act
which would be an offense against persons or property, were it not for the
inherent impossibility of its accomplishment or on account of the
employment of inadequate or ineffectual means.

4. CONSPIRACY (ART 8)

ARTICLE 8. Conspiracy and Proposal to Commit Felony. — Conspiracy and

proposal to commit felony are punishable only in the cases in which the law
specially provides a penalty therefor.

A conspiracy exists when two or more persons come to an agreement concerning

the commission of a felony and decide to commit it.

There is proposal when the person who has decided to commit a felony proposes
its execution to some other person or persons.

CONSPIRACY = CONSENT (criminal design) + CONTRIBUTION (Participation to

execution) + CONCERTED (Utility of purpose)

NOTE: You are liable only for what is covered in the plan/agreement

ROSALIE O. ABATAYO UNIVERSITY OF CEBU SCHOOL OF LAW 1L-M5

SESSION 4 CRIMINAL LAW I SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020:

Art. 4. Criminal liability. — Criminal liability shall be incurred:

1. (PROXIMATE CAUSE) By any person committing a felony (delito) although

the wrongful act done be different from that which he intended.

PROXIMATE CAUSE - "that cause, which, in natural and continuous sequence,

unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, produces the injury, and without
which the result would not have occurred."

Phrases in Article 4 (1)

1. Committing a Felony

• Felonies under Article 4 (1) are done with malice.

• When a person commits a felony with malice, he intends the consequences of

his felonious act. But there are cases where the consequences of the felonious
act of the offender are not intended by him. In those cases, "the wrongful act
done" is "different from that which he intended

2. “Although the wrongful act done be different from that which he intended.

Causes of unintended results:

1. Error in Personae (mistaken identity)

ARTICLE 49. Penalty to Be Imposed Upon the Principals When the Crime
Committed is Different from that Intended. — In cases in which the felony
committed is different from that which the offender intended to commit, the
following rules shall be observed:

1. If the penalty prescribed for the felony committed be higher than that
corresponding to the offense which the accused intended to commit, the penalty
corresponding to the latter shall be imposed in its maximum period.

2. If the penalty prescribed for the felony committed be lower than that
corresponding to the one which the accused intended to commit, the penalty for
the former shall be imposed in its maximum period.

3. The rule established by the next preceding paragraph shall not be applicable if
the acts committed by the guilty person shall also constitute an attempt or
frustration of another crime, if the law prescribes a higher penalty for either of the
latter offenses, in which case the penalty provided for the attempt or the
frustrated crime shall be imposed in its maximum period.

2. Aberratio Ictus (mistake in blow)

ARTICLE 48. Penalty for Complex Crimes. — When a single act constitutes two or
more crimes, or when an offense is a necessary means for committing the other,
the penalty for the most serious crime shall be imposed, the same to be applied in
its maximum period.

ROSALIE O. ABATAYO UNIVERSITY OF CEBU SCHOOL OF LAW 1L-M5

SESSION 4 CRIMINAL LAW I SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

3. Praeter intentionem (injury greater than intended)

ARTICLE 13. That the offender had no intention to commit so grave a

wrong as that committed (mitigating circumstances)

Elements making proximate cause criminally liable

1. Intentional felony has been committed;

There is no intentional felony when :

1. the act/omission committed is not punishable by RPC;

2. Act is covered by Article 11 (Justifying Circumstances);

The proximate legal cause is that acting first and producing the injury, either
immediately, or by setting other events in motion, all constituting a natural
and continuous chain of events, each having a close causal connection with
its immediate prodecessor.

2. Resulting injury be direct, natural, and logical consequences of the felony.

(He who is the cause of the cause is the cause of the evil caused. )
In People v. Page, citing People v. Toling (L2-29097) it was held that "if a man creates in
another person's mind an immediate sense of danger, which causes such person to try to escape,
and, in so doing, the latter injures himself, the man who creates such a state of mind is
responsible for the resulting injuries.”

What are considered as direct, natural, and logical consequences:

1. Injury caused by escape from threat;

2. Infection developing from the injury;

3. Infection/complication caused by the process to alleviate the injury;

4. In case of internal malady, if the blow:

1. Was Efficient cause of death; (People v. Ilustre)

2. Accelerated death;

3. Proximate cause of death.

5. Even when the offended party refused to be treated. Offended

party is not obliged to submit himself from treatment.

The felony committed is not the proximate cause of the resulting injury
when:

ROSALIE O. ABATAYO UNIVERSITY OF CEBU SCHOOL OF LAW 1L-M5

SESSION 4 CRIMINAL LAW I SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

a) there is an active force that intervened between the felony

committed and the resulting injury, and the active force is a distinct act
or fact absolutely foreign from the felonious act of the accused; or

b) the resulting injury is due to the intentional act of the victim.

Examples of NOT EFFICIENT INTERVENING CAUSES

1. Physical condition/health of the accused during the assault;

2. Victim’s nervousness and temperament;

3. Causes inherent to the victim such as not knowing how to swim;

4. Refusal to submit to treatment; and

5. Unskillful medical treatment to injury

2. IMPOSSIBLE CRIME - Art 4 (B). [Criminal liability is incurred] by any person

performing an act which would be an offense against persons or property, were it
not for the inherent impossibility of its accomplishment, or on the account of the
employment of inadequate or ineffectual means.

PENALTY: ARTICLE 59. Penalty to Be Imposed in Case of Failure to Commit the Crime
Because the Means Employed or the Aims Sought are Impossible. — When the
person intending to commit an offense has already performed the acts for the
execution of the same but nevertheless the crime was not produced by reason of
the fact that the act intended was by its nature one of impossible accomplishment
or because the means employed by such person are essentially inadequate to
produce the result desired by him, the court, having in mind the social danger and
the degree of criminality shown by the offender, shall impose upon him the
penalty of arresto mayor (FROM ARTICLE 27: Arresto mayor. — The duration of
the penalty or arresto mayor shall be from one month and one day to six months.
or a fine ranging from 200 to 500 pesos. )

ELEMENTS OF IC:

1. Performing an act which would be an offense against persons or property.

Felonies against persons:

1. ARTICLE 246. Parricide. — Any person who shall kill his father, mother, or
child, whether legitimate or illegitimate, or any of his ascendants, or
descendants, or his spouse, shall be guilty of parricide and shall be
punished by the penalty of reclusión perpetua to death.

2. ARTICLE 248. Murder. — Any person who, not falling within the provisions
of article 246 shall kill another, shall be guilty of murder and shall be
punished by reclusión temporal in its maximum period to death, if
committed with any of the following attendant circumstances:

ROSALIE O. ABATAYO UNIVERSITY OF CEBU SCHOOL OF LAW 1L-M5

SESSION 4 CRIMINAL LAW I SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

1. With treachery, taking advantage of superior strength, with the aid of

armed men, or employing means to weaken the defense or of
means or persons to insure or afford impunity.

2. In consideration of a price, reward or promise.

3. By means of inundation, fire, poison, explosion, shipwreck, stranding

of a vessel, derailment or assault upon a street car or
locomotive, fall of an airship, by means of motor vehicles, or
with the use of any other means involving great waste and ruin.

4. On occasion of any of the calamities enumerated in the preceding

paragraph, or of an earthquake, eruption of a volcano,
destructive cyclone, epidemic, or any other public calamity.

5. With evident premeditation.

6. With cruelty, by deliberately and inhumanly augmenting the suffering

of the victim, or outraging or scoffing at his person or corpse.

3. ARTICLE 249. Homicide. — Any person who, not falling within the
provisions of article 246 shall kill another without the attendance of
any of the circumstances enumerated in the next preceding article,
shall be deemed guilty of homicide and be punished by reclusion
temporal.

4. ARTICLE 255. Infanticide. — The penalty provided for parricide in article

246 and for murder in article 248 shall be imposed upon any person
who shall kill any child less than three days of age.

If the crime penalized in this article be committed by the mother of

the child for the purpose of concealing her dishonor, she shall
suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and
maximum periods, and if said crime be committed for the
same purpose by the maternal grandparents or either of them,
the penalty shall be prisión mayor.

FROM ARTICLE 27. Prisión correccional, suspensión, and destierro.

— The duration of the penalties of prision correccional, suspensión
and destierro shall be from six months and one day to six years,
except when suspension is imposed as an accessory penalty, in which
case, its duration shall be that of the principal penalty.
5. ABORTION

ARTICLE 256. Intentional Abortion. — Any person who shall intentionally

cause an abortion shall suffer:

1. The penalty of reclusión temporal, if he shall use any violence

upon the person of the pregnant woman.

2. The penalty of prisión mayor if, without using violence, he shall

act without the consent of the woman.

3. The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum

periods, if the woman shall have consented.

ROSALIE O. ABATAYO UNIVERSITY OF CEBU SCHOOL OF LAW 1L-M5

SESSION 4 CRIMINAL LAW I SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

ARTICLE 257. Unintentional Abortion. — The penalty of prisión correccional

in its minimum and medium period shall be imposed upon any person
who shall cause an abortion by violence, but unintentionally.

ARTICLE 258. Abortion Practiced by the Woman Herself or by Her Parents. —

The penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum
periods shall be imposed upon a woman who shall practice an abortion
upon herself or shall consent that any other person should do so. Any
woman who shall commit this offense to conceal her dishonor, shall
suffer the penalty of prisión correccional in its minimum and medium
periods. If this crime be committed by the parents of the pregnant
woman or either of them, and they act with the consent of said woman
for the purpose of concealing her dishonor, the offenders shall suffer
the penalty of prisión correccional in its medium and maximum
periods.

ARTICLE 259. Abortion Practiced by a Physician or Midwife and Dispensing of

Abortives. — The penalties provided in article 256 shall be imposed in
its maximum period, respectively, upon any physician or midwife who,
taking advantage of their scientific knowledge or skill, shall cause an
abortion or assist in causing the same. Any pharmacist who, without
the proper prescription from a physician, shall dispense any abortive
shall suffer arresto mayor and a fine not exceeding 1,000 pesos.

6. Duel

ARTICLE 260. Responsibility of Participants in a Duel. — The penalty of

reclusión temporal shall be imposed upon any person who shall kill his adversary
in a duel.

If he shall inflict upon the latter physical injuries only, he shall suffer the penalty
provided therefor, according to their nature.

In any other case, the combatants shall suffer the penalty of arresto mayor,
although no physical injuries have been inflicted.

The seconds shall in all events be punished as accomplices.

ARTICLE 261. Challenging to a Duel. — The penalty of prisión correccional in

its minimum period shall be imposed upon any person who shall challenge
another, or incite another to give or accept a challenge to a duel, or shall scoff at
or decry another publicly for having refused to accept a challenge to fight a duel.

7. Physical Injuries

8. Rape

Felonies against properties:

1. Robbery

2. Brigandage

ROSALIE O. ABATAYO UNIVERSITY OF CEBU SCHOOL OF LAW 1L-M5

SESSION 4 CRIMINAL LAW I SEPTEMBER 5, 2020

3. Theft

4. Usurpation

5. Culpable insolvency

6. Swindling and other deceits

7. Chattel mortgage

8. Arson and other crimes involving destruction

9. Malicious Mischief

If the act performed would be an offense other than a felony against persons or against property,
there is no impossible crime.

2. Act was done with evil intent -Since the offender in impossible crime intended to commit an
offense against persons or against property, it must be shown that the actor performed the act
with evil intent, that is, he must have the intent to do an injury to another.

ROSALIE O. ABATAYO UNIVERSITY OF CEBU SCHOOL OF LAW 1L-M5